How does Tennessee Williams create a sense of fantasy and delusion in A Streetcar Named Desire?

Tennessee Williams creates a sense of fantasy and delusion through the development of his character Blanche. Blanche is introduced as Stella’s sister, who has moved for initially unknown circumstances and is presented as glamourous and fantastical through vivid metaphors, similes and hyperbole ‘a crown for an empress’ and ‘a deep-sea diver who brings up sunken treasures’. However, Tennessee Williams’ development of Blanche’s dialogue is most effective in presenting Blanche as a vessel for the element of fantasy in the play, due to her highly emotive, euphemistic and high flowing language. This is done though repetition, assonance, sibilance, consonance and empty adjectives such as ‘divine’ that allows for a symphonic effect. This is illustrated in the scene where light is a metaphor for reality and Mitch pulls off the paper lantern and Blanche cries ‘I’ll tell you what I want. I want magic! Yes, Yes magic! I try give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth I tell what ought to be true’. Overall Williams’ development of Blanche’s distinctly figurative language helps portray Blanche as a representation of fantasy, as the language of the other characters lack elaborate imagery which creates a stark contrast. 
Furthermore, Tennessee Williams creates a sense of fantasy and delusion through his character Blanche in her characterisation by structure and form. Firstly, Blanche is rarely off stage and is therefore the main focus of the play. The effect of this, coupled with the episodic structure of the play, which has the dramatic effect of a series of one act plays, illustrates that Blanche is at the height of drama. This however doesn’t translate to a sense of importance and superiority that Blanche promulgates and therefore her ideals remain a fantasy. In addition, Williams’ use of sound such as the locomotive to represent Blanche’s mind through symbolism is an exemplification of his style of mixing realism and expressionism. The effect of this is that Blanche’s thoughts are represented as less concrete and more fantastical and delusional.  Moreover, the context of Blanche’s character trope, a southern belle whose connotations are proper, beautiful and innocent. This idea was cemented in the casting of Vivien O’ Leigh, who played Blanche, as Scarlett O’Hara a southern belle in Gone with the Wind. This imagery highlights the fantastical nature of Blanche. This is because in the context of a diverse New Orleans a southern belle’s reality is not present nor celebrated and is fading fast fading from America. The need for fantasy in a realist world in A Streetcar Named Desire can be reflected from Tennessee Williams' own life and his search for something better. After his childhood with his manipulative mother and being battered by critics during his career perhaps his wish for a better life was impossible and fantastical too. This can be evinced by his commentary in 1969 on why he converted to Catholicism, stating he wanted his goodness back. 
Whilst it may be interpreted that Tennessee Williams doesn’t create a sense of fantasy but hopelessness, due to the strength of realism in the play, through his development of the character Blanche. Such as the helplessness that ensued after the climax, where Blanche was raped by Stanley who represents realism. I believe that Tennessee Williams developed both fantasy and realism and that the existence of one doesn’t counteract the other. Therefore, helplessness is in fact an element behind Blanches fantastical and delusional nature.  Deborah Burks described the interaction between Blanche and Stanley as a ‘Darwinist struggle between two species of human being’ and therefore Tennessee Williams’ presentation of Stanley through realism, successfully aided Blanches development as a figure of fantasy that further helped create a sense of fantasy throughout the play.